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Backup failed with error code 0x80780179

Question

When trying to backup Windows Server 2012 using built-in Windows Server Backup tool I get the following error:

The backup operation that started at '‎XXX....' has failed with following error code
'0x80780179' (An error occured while writing to the backup target.). Please review the event details for a solution, and then rerun the backup operation once the issue is resolved.

The event details I looked at doesn't provide any help other than the
ErrorMessage=%%2155348345

I had the same error an in my case the reason was pretty trivial: I connected my USB backup drive using the front USB connector on my machine. It seems that internal cables provided by the motherboard manufacturer - those connecting the USB pins on the motherboard
and the USB socket in the chassis - were of low quality and with a transfer of high volumes of data they simply failed. Using a high quality USB 3.0 cable I hooked up my USB backup drive to the USB connector on the back of my machine - one of those installed
directly on the motherboard - and everything went perfectly fine. I have made a number of backups since then and no more error
0x80780179.

So it is definitely a case of the hardware faults related to the backup target - in my case it was cabling.

Windows backup failure is always related to the target, since windows backup is very narrow software which doesn't offer a lot of support. The bazaar requirements for a target disk make it near worthless in an production environment.
Look into any number of free third party software options which are superior.

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